Kaqchikel Maya man from Midwestern Highlands of Guatemala.
Kaqchikel Maya man from Midwestern Highlands of Guatemala.
One of key members of a cofradia - a unique form of a brotherhood that is common throughout the region among Maya people. The process of becoming a member involves many steps and has traditionally been the way for a person to demonstrate worth to the community.
-------------
Kaqchikel Maya is one of the 30 ethnic groups of Maya People, 21 of them live in Guatemala. Maya Civilization exists for about 5000 years and is one the six cradles of civilization worldwide. In Pre-Columbian times, the capital of Kaqchikel Kingdom was the city of Iximche. It was second most important city of that time in the area. After arrival of Spaniard in 1524, at first Kaqchikel rulers wanted to made friends with conquistadors, however soon after they realised that the friendship comes with a very high price tag. Spaniards demanded a lot of gold and the Kaqchikel, fearing that it's just a beginning, abandoned the city and disappeared into the deep forest. After 10 days Spanyards declared war on Kaqchikel. The city of Iximche became the first capital of the colonised region...Two years later, looted and partly burned down, the city was abandoned by the conquistadors too. Kaqchikel fought guerrilla war for some years, until finally coming back and making peace with the conquerors, however ever since their city was abandoned. It was not until 1989 that ritual was carried out at the site of Iximche in order to reestablish the ruins as a sacred place for Maya ceremonies.
---------------
The 36 year long Guatemalan Civil War that ended in 1996. It left more than 200,000 people dead, half a million driven from their homes; most of the victims were Maya. In 2012 former president Ríos Montt was formally indicted in Guatemala for overseeing the massacre of 1,771 Indigenous People and appeared in court for genocide and crimes against humanity for which he was then sentenced to 80 years in prison. However, soon after the ruling was overturned by the constitutional court and the sentence was suspended. Ríos Montt died on April 1, 2018.
The World in Faces photo project by Alexander Khimushin. Portraits of ordinary extraordinary people living on this planet. 📸🌍❤️🙏